1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disc apparatus in which a tray is used to load an optical disc into and unload the disc from the apparatus, and more particularly to the top cover structure of the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical disc apparatuses such as those mounted on notebook personal computers have been developed with in mind further reduction in the thicknesses, weights, and costs of the apparatuses. In the optical disc apparatus in which a tray is used to load an optical disc into and unload the disc from the apparatus, a flexible printed circuit board is used to electrically connect a printed circuit board provided on a moving unit (a mechanical unit of the apparatus) which includes the tray to a printed circuit board provided on a fixed unit of the apparatus. In association with the objective of reduction in the thickness, weight, and costs of the optical disc apparatus, this flexible printed circuit board has also been under consideration for improving the operational reliability of the apparatus while maintaining the signal-processing capability of the flexible printed circuit board. Some of the related-art flexible printed circuit boards for such optical disc apparatuses are disclosed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-234803 (Patent Document 1) and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-25666 (Patent Document 2). Disclosed in Patent Document 1 are two configurations of a recording/reproducing device. One is a configuration in which a substantially U-shaped (when extended over a plane) flexible printed circuit board is used as the printed circuit board to be connected to the moving unit that supports a recording medium, and a coverlay is glued onto the distal end of one of the two arms (second arm) of the U-shaped board which end is connected to the connector of the moving unit in order to increase the rigidity of the distal end relative to that of the proximal potion of the second arm so that the flexible printed circuit board does not slacken downward further from the clearance formed between the housing of the apparatus and the disc tray (moving unit) when the disc tray is ejected from the apparatus. The other is a configuration in which the region within the second arm which bends during the movement of the moving unit is formed thinner than the other regions of the second arm so that a load on that region is reduced during bending. Patent Document 2 discloses a configuration in which, for the purpose of preventing the degradation of transmission signal waveforms by reducing the capacitance produced between the contact portion of a flexible printed circuit board 17 for connecting an optical pickup and another printed circuit board and that of a metal cover 32, concave and convex portions 41 are provided on the metal cover 32 to reduce its contact area with the flexible printed circuit board 17.